A Word-a-Day Kind of Christmas
by ICanStopAnytime
Summary: Coach Taylor and a word-a-day calendar. What was Julie thinking?


**Note:** This brief Eric/Tami humorous fluff piece is an edited, expanded outtake (re-written with permission) from a story I once co-wrote with Surly Coach that is no longer in the archives. Enjoy.

**A Word-a-Day Kind of Christmas **

Tami was exhausted when her head hit the pillow. Christmas Eve had been a wonderful family time. She was already starting to drift off when Eric slid up to her from behind, draped an arm around her, and kissed her ear. "Naughty girl," he murmured.

She laughed. "Have you been making a list?"

"Mhmmmm…." He kissed her neck.

"I'm tired, hon. Really tired."

"But I want to unwrap my Christmas present."

"You'll have to wait until Christmas."

"Babe, it's 12:02." He kissed her shoulder. "It _is_ Christmas." He slid a hand under her shirt. Lazily, she swatted his hand away. "Come on, Tami. Didn't Jesus himself say give to him that asketh of thee?"

She sighed and rolled on her back. "Fine. I suppose I can just lie here."

"Now that's no fun!" He slid his arm away. "A'ight. I'll leave you alone. But you know, you're gonna regret this one day. One day you're gonna be horny as hell, coming to me, and _I'm_ gonna have a headache."

She snorted. "Uh-huh."

"Just you wait, Tami Taylor. Just you wait."

"I love you, sugar. You can have _anything_ you want tomorrow afternoon once Gracie crashes form her second batch of Christmas candy. We'll take an afternoon _nap_, I promise."

"_Anything_ I want, huh?"

"_Anything_."

"Hmmm…you realize it's going to be really difficult for me to fall asleep now, right?"

She yawned. "Not for me."

"Aren't you worried about what I'm going to ask for?"

"Eric, hon, I would be shocked if you ever asked me for anything that shocked me."

"Well now that's a tautology, isn't it?"

Tami chuckled. "Did you get that off your word-of-the-day calendar?"

"I did," he said proudly. "Why do you think Julie gave me that anyway?"

"I think it was a gag gift, babe. I don't think she actually expected you to use it. Did you read the whole thing already?"

"Half of it. Hey, it sounds like you're awake now, which is _fortuitous_, because I was just noticing that you're very _callipygian_."

"Goodnight, Eric. _Good_. _Night_."

He sighed and rolled over.

**/FNL/**

Tami stood washing the dishes in the kitchen. Christmas dinner had been leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner, because Matt and Julie and Shelley had cleared out of the house that afternoon. Now only the three Taylors remained, and Gracie was passed out in front of the Christmas tree and might not wake until the next morning. Eric wrapped his arms around Tami's waist. "Thanks for dinner and doing the dishes. Thanks for all of the _quotidian_ things you do."

She chuckled. "Did I mention I wish Julie had never given you that word-a-day calendar for Christmas?"

He smirked. "Do you know what it means? Quotidian?"

"Of course I do."

"What?"

"You don't know, do you?" he asked smugly, took her hand, and began tugging her toward their bedroom.

"I know," she insisted as she kicked the door closed behind them. "I'm just not telling." When the door was good and locked, she asked him what he wanted for his special Christmas present. "Remember, anything you want."

"Really, so if I said put on a naughty elf costume –"

"- You'd have to go out and buy me one, and by then, I'd be asleep."

He wrapped his finger around the tail end of a string that tied her red Christmas dress together in front. "In that case, maybe I'll just untie this ribbon and enjoy whatever's inside. Or…I could ask you to put on something _diaphanous_."

She chuckled. "Well, we've had a _lot_ of Valentine's days since we've been married. I could probably find some lingerie somewhere." She disappeared into her walk-in closet – _hers_, because the master bathroom was divided along the center by the soaking tub and stand-alone shower and then entered into two separate closest on either side.

When she returned, with a smile that was half aroused grin and half self-pleased smirk, said, "You look _effulgent_ in your _pulchritude_."

"Eric, I swear, if you keep up this word-of-the-day thing, I'm going to smack you. Hard."

"Well, if that's the _scurrilous_ way you want this to do go down, my _prurient_ wife..." He stepped forward, pulled her close, and kissed her neck as she squirmed and giggled.

When they were spooned together a half hour later beneath the thick and heavy blankets they'd bought for their first Philadelphia winter, Tami said, "Well I'm glad I enervated you, but that was a bit ephemeral, wasn't it?"

"Shush it."

THE END


End file.
